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42 Participant Two:
“Yah, in terms of, I don‟t know what you call it in your language, of Industrial Psychology, but how people are contracted here, that might not apply directly to me but to other people I know, this whole idea of working, you have all of the papers in terms of what they acquire for you to assume that post, but they kind of just keep you just hanging, if it‟s renewing, you keep renewing on a term basis you see, so in other words you don‟t really know if you belong to that place if they seem to appreciate your services or they‟re just doing that because they don‟t have another option, I‟ve seen that happening to some of my friends and to make matters worse students will always say “so why can‟t you be a full time lecturer” so you feel the consumers themselves feel satisfied but the system does not seem to be because they feel just to feel satisfied apart from your salary which I believe is your entitlement, and there‟s no way they can block it but in terms of motivating you and making you feel that you belong to the place, I think a lot still needs to be done, to an extent some people end up uh applying for jobs elsewhere and when they‟re about to go, the university, starts to kind of show some interest but they can‟t stop the process because its already in motion.”
Participant Two:
“... the department is making some adjustments, protectionists policies so that the locals can have a better chunk of the cake and the rest is left for us foreigners, for us to compete, for now I understand there are no longer masters holders of the critical skills permit, why I think a number of people are doing their masters degree including South Africans, so it‟s like for one to get a work permit is a bit of a hassle, the best so far in my understanding is if you have a PhD, with a PhD it‟s automatic, a PhD in chemistry, a PhD in traditional medicine, a PhD in music, no matter what PhD, I believe the chances are still high, you apply for a five year permit, I think then at the lapse of that five year permit you can apply for permanent residence.”
Participant Three:
“First and foremost I‟m a PhD student and being a PhD student you may be given a chance to also work as a tutor right. South Africa has a lot of opportunities so much that sometimes I wish you people just understood how much opportunity you‟ll have and how you should use it when you can because back home just getting in a PhD
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programme, getting accepted for a PhD, is so difficult you don‟t want to even try, the places are so limited and there is this elitist kind of screening that will make the majority of people simply unable to afford to, you have to pay the fees and half the time you cannot afford to pay the fees. So coming to South Africa was the best option because it‟s closer to all sorts of opportunities which are better and bigger in this country and the very fact that they understand the fact that if you‟re a PhD student you can also work in the college and earn a bit of money to sustain yourself because as a foreigner you cannot get grants, but at least you can work as a tutor and get a little pocket money and so forth. So that sort of drove me to study here and also work here, but I haven‟t had the real opportunity to try employment on the outside; just within the campus that‟s what I have tried.”
Unequal opportunities
Unequal opportunities refer to the ways in which participants feel as though they are not receiving opportunities on the same basis as everyone else. One of the participants explained that although South Africa may seem to be promoting equal opportunities and fairness there are still undertones and reminders that foreign nationals are not included in reaping the benefits of equal opportunities in the country. Participants provided similar sentiments regarding the way in which they have missed out on the privileges granted to fellow South African citizens. Furthermore, participants seemed to share a perception regarding the discourse being shared through government and politics towards alienating and making foreign nationals feel less accepted in the country.
Participant Three:
“OK first and foremost I haven‟t been in here for a long time, to form a concrete opinion but what I have experienced so far is that as a foreigner you basically are second rate to everyone else. It does not necessarily matter how good you are or potentially good you can be, that very fact that you are an immigrant means you are treated as second best, to a local person. I haven‟t really gotten to a point where I have been measured, you know… one against the other, this is just a feeling that you get, every time you try to get into something, even if you are filling in a form for something you think it should be out for everyone, you read it‟s written „SA nationals only‟, and so
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forth, as a result you feel left out, you feel segregated, maybe it is too strong, you feel discriminated against.”